•What City People Found Out In IPERU REMO
Hon. Ladi Adebutu is one of the politicians in Nigeria with a 2nd address. Since he didn’t succeed in becoming the governor of Ogun State as he planned to, he has gone back to his farming business.
Not many people know that this former member of House of Representatives, Hon. Ladi Adebutu is Nigeria’s biggest Piggery farmer. His farm boasts more than 10,000 pigs. Unknown to many, Lado, who is Chief Kesington Adebutu’s son owns the largest Pig farm in Nigeria and it is situated in Iperu Remo, his home town. With a staff strength above 300, Lado has over the years, found time to oversee his large farm in the outskirts of Iperu Remo and still plays politics.
Why did he choose rearing pigs as a form of business, he was asked a few weeks back? “It was because I wanted to be different,” he says. “When I came back from abroad where I had gone to study I had to take a decision on what business to do and I decided to go into farming. My dad also is a farmer. Many don’t know. He owns a big farm in Iperu. So, he advised me that if I was going to go into farming, I should not do it small. I should do it big. I should do mechanised farming. I should do it big and get funding from banks”.
That was how Ladi Adebutu chose to be unique. He decided to go into piggery. “I don’t like to be like most people,” he says. “I like to be different. I wanted something challenging. Piggery is challenging. I also decided from day one to do it on a big scale. I must admit that my father Chief Kesington Adebutu also helped me. He decided to give me his Iperu farm to use. That was how I started my piggery business. Today, we are the biggest. We have grown so big that the next phase is processing. That is the second leg of it. I want to go into processing to enhance the shelf life of the Pork and to take care of preservation so that we can sell to big companies and departmental stores that do retail. We need to ensure a longer shelf life of the meat.
Once I finish this I want to go into Fish business. I want to produce shrimps too. That is my next direction”. His piggery farm in Iperu is very big and it is built on several acres of land and he has a lot of staff on his employ to take care of the pigs. Why this huge capital outlay? “It is because Piggery business is slightly different from other businesses. The problem with Piggery is with the cost of infrastructure. You need a lot of space and you constantly need to expand and expand.”
Apart from just doing piggery, he has other sections like a paddock for cattle. He also rears cattles. He also has a big reservoir of water to take care of a shortage of water. “You need to make use of a large quantity of water and it has to be clean so that it does not cause infection.
All the sheds that have been built to house these pigs are of different sizes. It depends on the different sizes of the pigs. In some cases, you have fewer pigs in sections where you have big pigs and a lot in sections where the small or slim-sized pigs are. So the number of the pigs in each room is dependent on the size of the pigs. He has different sections where he puts the male and female pigs to mate and produce, and there is yet another section where those that have just delivered are kept with their babies. And pigs usually produce a lot of little ones. So they are usually given spacious rooms. “Every 10 to 12 months they go on sale. All in all, we have about 10,000 pigs here and we have them in sections. We have a section called the nursing bay and sections for growers. On this farm, we rear cows and rams too for local use during festive periods.”
Despite the fact that he was active in the House of Reps, he was still close to his pigs. He visited them every weekend to ensure compliance with the laid down rules. Unlike other lawmakers who hardly visit their constituents till the next election year, Ladi kept in touch with the people of Remo North, LG, Ikenne LG and Sagamu LG, which he represented. Whenever I come home I must visit my farm. I am a farmer. I like being on my farm to see my pigs. I get my hands dirty, I am involved.” He also has his own Feedmill, just like his dad has his. He rears cows. In his paddock, he has 48 cows and he has ordered for more cows. That is another line of business for him.
“I always joke with people that with 48 cows I have more cows than President Buhari,” he said. “The rams are for personal consumption. And I also give them out during the festive period.” He has just embarked on the massive construction of a big warehouse where he intends to provide shelter for his cows. What does he desire with all these? “It’s big business for me,” he explained. “It is fun raising these Pigs and Cows. It is fun watching animals give birth and watch them grow up to the time you sell them off. There is a lot of lessons to be learnt from this experience. I also rare donkeys. Our churches use them during Easter. The reason I am hands-on is because banks don’t like to support the piggery business. They won’t give us money because they feel the piggery business is too owner dependent.”
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